Given Taiwan’s solid economic power and democratic development, the rest of the world should pay close attention to its international status and support its continued democratic progress, a U.S. expert on cross-strait affairs said March 26.

Shelley Rigger, a professor of East Asian politics at Davidson College, made the comments in a speech at Boston’s Suffolk University on her recently published book “Why Taiwan Matters.”

Taiwan is important because of its evolving democracy, which is a standard for the world, and its role as a supply center for high-tech goods, so other nations should not be excessively influenced by current political realities and ignore it as a result, Rigger said.

Cross-strait economic ties have developed rapidly, allowing Taiwanese enterprises, after developing in Taiwan, to shift production to mainland China and thereby maintain Taiwan’s economic competitiveness, she said.

This model, she continued, will not result in Taiwan becoming overly reliant on the mainland Chinese market, and has provided management know-how that has allowed Beijing to integrate with the global economy.

Economic exchanges have helped cross-strait relations improve, thereby contributing to global peace, Rigger said. The governments of the two sides, however, will have to adopt appropriate response measures to prevent politics from interfering when economic relations reach a certain stage, she added.

Most of the people of Taiwan favor maintaining the status quo in cross-strait ties, according to Rigger. Both ruling and opposition parties agree that the ROC is an independent and sovereign nation, and that Taiwan’s future should be decided by its people, she said. (SB-THN)